Infants exercise and amusement device

ABSTRACT

An exercising and amusement device for infants comprising a flexible cord having clips at the ends thereof for connection to garments, e.g., on the baby&#39;&#39;s feet or legs or to spaced parts of a crib, baby carriage, chair, etc., and a plurality of hollow open-ended nestable cylinder-like members slidable on said cord.

United States Patent [1 1 Clifford [4 1 Nov. 26, 1974 INFANTS EXERCISEAND AMUSEMENT DEVICE [76] Inventor: Daisy E. Clifford, 68 Oak Ave,

Northboro, Mass. 01532 [22] Filed: Apr. 15, I974 [21] Appl. No.: 460,749

[52] US. Cl 272/80, 46/1 R, 46/32,

272/79 R [51] Int. Cl. A63h 5/00, A63b 7/00 [58] Field of Search 272/80,79 R; 46/] R, 32

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Allen 46/] R Burke 46/32 X3,564,759 2/l97l Buttermore 272/80 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS490,556 2/l953 Canada 46/32 567,847 3/l945 Great Britain .5 46/32Primary E.\un1irm-Paul E. Shapiro Almmcy, Agent. or l"irmCharles R. Fay

[ 57 1 ABSTRACT An exercising and amusement device for infantscomprising a flexible cord having clips at the ends thereof forconnection to garments, e.g., on the babys feet or legs or to spacedparts of a crib, baby carriage, chair, etc., and a plurality of hollowopen-ended nestable cylinder-like members slidable on said cord.

7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEL RSV 2 6197A SHEET 10F 2 PATENTEL,:zzvzslsm v sum 2 or 2 1 INFANTS EXERCISE AND AMUSEMENT DEVICEBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION There have been many amusement devices forbabies which are adapted to be supported on the crib and amuse the childin different ways but the present invention is directed to a devicewhich is particularly adapted to be connected with respect to shoestrings or garments worn on the feet, i.e., warm stockings or footedpajamas, etc., so that when he kicks or raises his feet and legs, theparts of this colorful device will make clicking noises and slide andspin on the cord providing both amusement and exercise for the infant.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A flexible cord is provided having connectorsat the ends thereof for the baby's shoes, shoe strings, pajama feet,etc., and on the cord there are provided a series of cylinders ofdifferent diameters, said cylinders having open ends and being nestable,partly nestable, and independent, but in any event the cylinders willslide down the cord by gravity usually in a kind of helterskelterrelationship. These cylinders click together making relative gentlenoises and at the same time providing for a colorful array of movingobjects which attract the baby wherever he may be located whether in acrib. baby carriage, chair, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTIONAs shown in FIG. I there is provided a flexible cord of any suitablematerial and this has clips or other connecting devices of well knownnature I2, 12 at the ends thereof for connecting to the babys garments,shoe strings. etc.

On the cord at either end thereof there are beads 14' which are providedto add to the babys enjoyment by containing a bell or rattle. etc.

These nestable sliding devices may be of any hollow open-ended type butthey must be all of different diameters so that they may nest as is morefully shown in FIG. 3. There may be more than a single set. They mayalso be arranged in a line on the cord 10 as shown in FIG. 4, but inmost cases they will be partially nested and partially unrelated to eachother as shown in FIG. 1. Of course this depends upon which end of thecord is raised. Babies usually kick one foot up at a time, but when heraises both feet, the colorful cylinders come into his view and hisreach. He may enjoy just watching them. observing that he can changetheir appearance by moving his feet from side to side or he will find byreaching that he can touch them. causing the cylinders to spin, thusexercising both arms and legs, while being amused. It is also to beobserved however that the device may be utilized when the baby is on hisstomach, or sitting, for the reason that the respective nestabledevices, being made of a relatively stiff plastic or similar material,will click together when entering or leaving or in general tending toabut each other.

In the present illustration these devices are shown as open-endedcylinders 18, 20, 22, 24, and 26 on a descending scale with relation tothe inside and outside diameters of the various pieces which may becomeextended as shown in FIG. 4, or rarely completely nested as in FIG. 3,and usually somewhat in the nature of the showing in FIG. I where theyare partly extended and partly nested, depending of course upon therelative elevations of the ends of the cord or the beads I4, 14.

When the device is connected to the babys garments, etc., it obviouslyimmediately gets the attention of the baby and of course being made ofplastic or similar material they not only click together making analmost continuous noise, but also are of bright attractive colors forthe infant.

The cord may be adjustable or even elastic and the cylindrical devicesare free of each otherand are only connected because of the cord 10. Thebeads 14, 14 are large enough to restrain loss of even the largest ofthe cylinders. The beads may be hollow and may contain a bell, rattle,or the like.

Usually the baby is dressed in soft sole or similar type shoes, or warmstockings, or footed pajamas. The present device can be used byattaching one clip to the string of the shoe he is wearing and the otherclip is then attached to the other shoestring, etc., or to whatevergarments worn.

The clips will stay attached until they are deliberately removed andthis saves the mother the bother of continually retrieving playthings.

I claim:

I. An infants exercise and amusement device comprising a flexible cord,a series of nestable hollow elements of differing diameters on the cord,each element being open-ended and slidable into and out of certain othersaid elements along the cord.

2. The device of claim 1 including a member at each end of the cord, andnoise making means in said members.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein said members are larger than the insidediameter of the largest element, restraining loss thereof from the cord.

4. The device of claim 1 including means at each end of the cord toattach to the cord in position.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein the means is constructed and arrangedto be removably attached to the garment of the infant.

6. The device of claim 4 wherein the means is constructed and arrangedto be removably attached to spaced supports.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein the elements are substantiallyself-sustaining and create noises when striking each other in sliding onthe cord.

1. An infant''s exercise and amusement device comprising a flexiblecord, a series of nestable hollow elements of differing diameters on thecord, each element being open-ended and slidable into and out of certainother said elements along the cord.
 2. The device of claim 1 including amember at each end of the cord, and noise making means in said members.3. The device of claim 2 wherein said members are larger than the insidediameter of the largest element, restraining loss thereof from the cord.4. The device of claim 1 including means at each end of the cord toattach to the cord in position.
 5. The device of claim 4 wherein themeans is constructed and arranged to be removably attached to thegarment of the infant.
 6. The device of claim 4 wherein the means isconstructed and arranged to be removably attached to spaced supports. 7.The device of claim 1 wherein the elements are substantiallyself-sustaining and create noises when striking each other in sliding onthe cord.